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Alright the votes have been tallied and the results are up. Also new topic to vote on best thief/assassin/rogue.

Best: Chad
Worst: Cath

Both from the same game, interestingly enough.

In deciding best, I was considering Chad, Colm, FE10 Sothe, and both Legault and Matthew, all clearly of value in their games, so I had to consider who was most effective considering the circumstances of the game. Sothe has excellent utility in Micaiah's group and since there's a third promotion isn't hindered by being a Rogue already. However: he has a forced promotion time very late in the game, dissapointing caps, and is required when other units would be better in his spot, so he's out. Colm is around to steal all sorts of things that only he can steal since he's your only Thief for quite some time, but unfortunately for him, he's in FE8 which makes him less impressive by comparison due to how easy that game is. Matthew and Legault are also both swell (I'd argue Matthew>Legault simply due to being around longer all other differences being mostly negligible), but the compete viability of both is precisely what makes them less impressive (how can you argue one as the best in the series if they can easily be replaced by the other). Which leaves Chad, who also arguably has the most going for him. His game has a higher difficult than most and he's the most dependable thief in it. And while he doesn't promote, that's exactly what makes his awesomeness so important in his game: you want a Thief to be as impressive as possible at 20/-- and Chad fits the bill. Plus, he has a great affinity, good support options, and excellent availability.

Meanwhile, Cath is obnoxious to recruit, comes terribly underleveled and is the worst at combat of the three in the game with the worst availability. I also considered Heather for this position, but at least she has some utility int he chapter with the Senators.

Now, I know most people will eat me for this, but I thought Lara from Thracia 776 was one of the best Thieves as she also doubles as a Dancer and can promote three times (although the Thief Fighter -> Dancer lowers her stats, but an extra twenty levels more than makes up for it, and an extra twenty more if you do the whole Dancer -> Thief Fighter thing) STR, DEF, HP wise? Just shove some STR/DEF increasing Crusader Scrolls on her and give er' some Life Rings and you're good to go!

Worst: I'm sorry, as much as I loved Shadow Dragon, Dark Dragon and Monshou no Nazo, Ricardo was completely unnecessary.

EDIT: Whoops -__- I didn't read/missed the deadline, but anyway, those who I think are the worst, just for shits and giggles, I guess..

Best: Colm
Worst: Cath

This was kind of hard to say because I love using thieves. For me I did like using Matthew, Chad, and to some extent FE10 Sothe. However I choose Colm mainly because I find him so useful in that game. First off he is the only unit that can steal for a while until you have Rennac in your party. The other thing I like about Colm is that he could become a very efficient evade tank if you give him A support with Neimi. You could literally replace a knight with him and still probably get the same results, maybe even better. Yeah he is in a fairly easy game but it really doesn't matter in my opinion.

As far as Cath goes, I find her to be useless in her game. You have Chad and Astol for a while so they are most likely up there in levels by the time you do get her. Those two will mainly take care enough of things that you would need a thief for really.

Just curious: why claim Lara as the best Thief because of her ability to promote so often when
A) she has infinitely more utility as a Dancer than a Thief and is the ONLY possible Dancer in the game whereas you have two other Thief units around, and
B) caps are so abysmally low in FE5 that having that many potential promotions doesn't really do anything for her (promotion items around exactly in high supply either, so why even invest one in her when she doesn't need one as a Dancer)

It's my understanding most people (myself included) change to Dancer and have her stay as one.

I never considered keeping her as a Dancer just because I'm the kind of player who shoots for high stats (ie: 20, but I grew up on Monshou no Nazo, so they aren't that "abysmally" low to me") thus the promoting and extra levels she gains are highly appealing to me. However, even as a Dancer, I still consider her an FE Thief as she can still use the Lockpick as a Dancer, thus giving her as much right (and more) as any other Thief in Fire Emblem, and losing the "Steal" command? Pfft, with everyone else being able to capture, it really shouldn't matter if she loses it. Although with that being said, she still is the best thief (imo) because you can go two ways with her:
1. Keep her as a Dancer and make use of her dancing ability
2. Promote her and essentially get eighty(ish, I give you it's almost impossible for her to LV 20/20 it out before she talks to Pahn) levels to make her into a beast with Crusader Scrolls and all.

EDIT: Oh yes, and just for the record, you get sixteen Knight Proofs in that game and since Leaf and Linoan get their own non Knight Proof promotions and can only deploy (14?) units including Leaf anyway..

Oh, and @ Zeiss (did I say it right?) wouldn't Patty be a better choice as she comes with the Wind Sword (providing Dew is her father and has the Wind Sword) as well as all his skills as a Thief and the Sleep Sword to make arena training a bit easier?

I just like to say that Lara is still considered a Thief when she's a Dancer simply due to the fact that she still has access to the Lockpick which if my memory serves me correctly, that's what made a Thief a Thief in most Fire Emblems. Also, don't forget, her bases (especially HP being at 14) are rather awful and she needs the 60 levels plus promotion gains (and the Elite sword and manual if the player is obsessed with overpowering her like I am) to make her shine.

Patty-wise, I was demonstrating of how Patty would be a better Thief if the player paired Dew with Briggid, I never tried any other pairings but the two and with her Sleep Sword + all of Dew's equipment, I was always under the impression that she was better than Dew. I think I even promoted her a chapter earlier than Dew just because of the Sleep Sword making the Arena a joke for her, whereas with Dew, as Zeiss said, you sort of have to wait until Chapter 3's end to actually make use of him, whereas with Patty, you can use her from the get-go as she has Dew's Wind Sword if he's her Father.

Because Lara's BLD is so low (I think at a magnificent base of 3 and a growth rate of 5%) whereas people like Marty (who has the highest BLD growth in the game) have a whopping base of 15 and a growth of 75% and to my nostalgia, you can only really steal when a character's BLD exceeds the enemy, Lara couldn't really steal much to begin with, making her much more useful as a Lockpick/treasure room Thief. Also, because most people don't (to my knowledge) go for ranked runs, they usually use the Fell Contract to promote to Assassin who can do less than Lara can.
True, the enemies are tougher in second gen, but she also gets the Wind Sword to attack from a distance (Thunder too if you really want to go overboard) so as long as she attacks the short ranged units with her long ranged swords, it really shouldn't matter if they're tougher or not as she still gets EXP, doesn't get hit and for the cherry on top, the benefit of the arena with the Sleep Sword to squeeze out a couple more levels. She also gets so much gold anyway, doing 1HP a DMG in the arena with the Sleep Sword shouldn't be a problem as she can just repair it come next round.